Little Problems
by Rakime-vh
Summary: Syaoran always knew that he and Sakura were more mature than their adult companions sometimes. But this perspective was a really twisted way to see things. Now that he is the adult and Kurogane and Fai are the kids, how will he handle it?
1. Chapter 1

**LITTLE PROBLEMS**

**By Rakime**

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**Chapter 1**

It had been four months, just four months and it already felt like an eternity. Maybe this feeling was caused by the different way in which time flowed in each country; maybe it was due to the fact that when he wasn't with her every minute felt like an hour; or maybe it was just his imagination. Either way, the cause really didn't matter, when you are not doing what you want nor staying where you want, time starts to flow differently.

But Syaoran didn't want to be misunderstood. He didn't regret his decision, he didn't hate traveling. Actually, he was enjoying his trip, why shouldn't he? He wasn't traveling alone, he was learning a lot of interesting things, he was seeing a lot of wonderful worlds, he was visiting old friends and he was able to meet Sakura at least once in a month thanks to the blue earring of the Black Mokona. So, things weren't that bad really, or that was how he thought before arriving to that world.

They had ended up falling from the sky, that was becoming a habit and they were getting used to it actually, but even so, it still hurt the same.

Syaoran sat up slowly, rubbing the back of his head, trying to relieve it from the pain caused by the knock of the fall. He took a glance at the place around him to find out in what kind of world they had arrived now, perhaps it was a known one. His eyes widened when he saw the panorama in front of him, blinking a lot of times to confirm if his eyes weren't tricking him.

Everything seemed to be turned upside down, at least from the perspective of his own knowledge. The sky was dark and the moon and stars could be seen even in the atmosphere was lip up; flowers and mushrooms were as tall as trees and the floor was covered by grass and little plants which looked a lot like bonsais. It was definitely a weird world, even for him, who had travelled through several dimensions. He shuddered slightly when he made out what looked like a fish flying behind one of the huge sunflower, or would it be called moonflower there?

Syaoran stood up and started to walk toward a lake that was a few meters ahead of him, looking around searching for a trail that show him the whereabouts of his companions. When he reached the lake he had a quick look at it, expecting to see birds swimming under the water, but what he saw shocked him even more.

- What the… ? – he expressed as he took his hands to his face, feeling it and touching it, trying to reassert if the reflection was really his. It was.

How on earth was it his reflection? Yes, it was a reflection of him, but it was an older him. How was that possible? No one could age like twenty years from one moment to another, it was totally impossible!

He looked down immediately and inspected his body and he was indeed taller. He bended down to see if the distance made any difference in the reflection and wished he hadn't done that, because his heart almost stopped beating and he felt down on his butt due to the impression caused by watching someone coming out of the water right in front of him.

- Why the hell do I always fall in the worst places? I'm gonna kill that shiro manju once for all!

- Kuro… Kurogane-san? – Syaoran asked, skeptical.

- What?

- Is that really you? – he insisted.

- Of course it's me! Who else could it be? – asked the ninja, irritated, shaking his legs to get rid of the excess of water held by his clothes. Then, he put in place his shirt, glancing around, stopping dead the moment his eyes met Syaoran. – What the hell happened to you, kid?

- To me? What happened to you?

- What are you talking about?

Kurogane looked down right away, inspecting his body. All his extremities were there and in their right place, everything else appeared to be all right. But, wait. Why did his body look smaller? His mind started to work very fast, analyzing what he was seeing. If Syaoran looked older, that meant that he…?

The ninja turned over to watch his reflection on the water and he became petrified when he saw the image projected by the water, which showed him his six-year-old self. A loud scream escaped from his throat unconsciously.

- I see you already notice our situation – Both, Kurogane and Syaoran, turned their heads and their eyes widened slightly when they saw a kid, who looked just like Fai, approaching them, with Mokona standing on his shoulder.

- Is that you, Fai-san? – demanded Syaoran, even if he already knew the answer.

- I'm afraid so – the mage answered, smiling.

Kurogane shook his head to get rid of his shock and he leaned on Fai, taking Mokona in his hands.

- You did this little rat! – stated the ninja, shaking the rabbit-like creature hard – I'm sure you did this! Change us back now!

- Help, Kurogane is going to kill me! – asked Mokona, trying to sound melodramatic, but her giggles gave her away.

- Ne, ne Kuro-rin, calm down, you're going to hurt Mokona for real – said Fai, trying to remove Mokona from his hands.

- Calm down? Are you freaking kidding me? How in hell am I supposed to calm down?

- Well, at least leave Mokona alone Kuro-tan, this is not her fault – confirmed the mage, causing Kurogane to stop trying to kill Mokona.

- Then it was you?

- No, it wasn't me either – Fai went back a few steps after watching the murderous look in the ninja's face.

- Then it was the shiro manju! – now he started to pull the bun-like creature's ears; Mokona kept asking for help, but she never stopped smiling.

Syaoran stepped forward, put an arm around Kurogane's waist and lifted him up, forcing him to release Mokona. He was worry that the ninja could damage her for real this time. Also, he had had enough of that silly fight that was preventing him from finding out what Fai knew about their current situation. Because he must know something, if he didn't, he wouldn't be able to be that calm, would he?

- Hey! What do you think you're doing kid? Put me down right know! – demanded Kurogane, kicking and writhing, trying to wriggle out of Syaoran's grip.

- I will when you calm down, if you continue fighting, they won't be able to tell us what they know – said Syaoran, holding him tighter.

- I'll calm down when that little rat change us back!

- But Mokona didn't cause this – argued Mokona.

- Yes, you did! It must be one of your twisted jokes! – the ninja tried harder to get away from Syaoran.

- Kurogane-san, please! – shouted Syaoran, Kurogane shuddered when he heard him pronouncing his name with such a strength.

- All right, all right, but put me down right now – as soon as he were back in the ground, he folded his arms against his chest, sighing heavily and shifting his gaze toward an opposite spot.

- Now, Fai, Mokona, do any of you know what happened to us? – asked Syaoran as he tried to remain calm, even if he felt as anxious as Kurogane did.

- Mokona didn't do this! – maintained.

- So, what happened then?

- Well, I've been analyzing the situation and it occurred to me an interesting theory – commented Fai, his right hand scratching his chin – You see, this world looks exactly the opposite from what we know, so, what we know as black would probably be white here. Basing on that theory, if you Syaoran were a kid in the other worlds, here you would be an adult and we, who were adults, would be kids. – explained with a serious and calm tone of voice, the smile never abandoned his face.

- That's stupid – murmured Kurogane.

- No, actually that's a really credible theory – argued the amber eyed man – So, Fai-san, that would mean that this was caused by the world itself and not by any magic?

- Yes

- No, that doesn't make sense! If it did, why the shiro manju didn't age? – the tanned kid pointed out, a vein standing out of his forehead.

- Well Kuro-tan, Mokona is a magical creature, so, she will never age – explained Fai.

- That's right, Mokona is eternal! – said the rabbit-like creature, happily.

- Then, if that's really the case – started the ninja, ignoring the horrible fact of Mokona – Shiro manju, take us to the next world! – he demanded.

- Mokona can't, Mokona has to wait until the earring shine.

- What? You are always useless when we really need your help! – Kurogane leaned on Fai with the intention of grabbing Mokona again, but the mage was faster and put her out of his reach.

- Ne, Kuro-chan, there's no need to be that impatient and moody; actually, this isn't that bad – exclaimed Fai, smiling – we'll just have to wait until we move to the next world and everything will be back to normal.

- Are you out of you mind mage? How the hell isn't this bad? – more veins were showing up in his forehead.

- Well, first of all, because Kuro-rin looks so cute! – Fai admitted, shameless and cheerfully.

Kurogane stopped dead and blushed a little. Why that mage always find the way to embarrass him? He regained his mobility immediately and started to chase Fai, he was going to kill him for saying such an idiotic thing.

Syaoran just sighed heavily while he watched the two kids running, and shuddered slightly when Kurogane bumped into a rock and fell flat on his face. God, the trip was going to feel even more eternal.

_To be continued…_

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_Well, just an idea that has been going round and round in my head for days, so I decided to give it a shot. It won't be too long, five chapters tops, I guess. Review if you like it n_n_

_And sorry if there are some grammatical mistakes, I'm not an English speaker, so, my English is way too far to be good. If you find any, let me know so I can correct it n_n._


	2. Chapter 2

**LITTLE PROBLEMS**

**By Rakime**

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**Chapter 2**

Even if Fai claimed that he and Kurogane played the parents role in their weird and unusual family, at some point in their journey, Syaoran and Sakura realized that they were more mature than them sometimes. And most of the time the ones who acted like children were them, not neither he nor the princess. But this was just too much. Now that things were really like that, he didn't know if he liked to be "grown-up" anymore.

It took him around fifteen minutes to make Kurogane stop chasing Fai, and fifteen more minutes to convince him to move forward to see if they could find any community or city; the ninja refused to walk, he didn't want anyone to see him, not in that state, and the teasing of Mokona about how cute he looked didn't help at all; practically Syaoran had to drag him the first meters. And when Fai and Mokona started to make fun of Kurogane again, he had to begin the whole show one more time.

Now, he walked holding his companions' hands, Fai on the right and Kurogane on the left, trying to prevent them from going away from him again. The ninja put up a struggle for being taken like a child, but he gave up when he recognized that Syaoran's grip was too firm for him to get away.

- Would you shut up already? – the crimson eyed boy demanded, clearly exasperated.

- But I'm not doing anything, Kuro-chan – the little mage smiled widely.

- Yes you are! – and he was indeed, for the last ten minutes, Fai was humming a really annoying tune, at least annoying to him, and it was driving him crazy; how could that stupid be so calm? He even was jumping up and down instead of walking normally! – Stop that, I told you!

- Kurogane-san, please, he's not doing anything – said Syaoran as he strengthened his grip, the ninja attempted to leap on Fai once again.

- I can't believe it! You are really enjoying this, aren't you? – stated the tanned boy, when he made out a satisfactory grin in the blond boy's face.

- Nee, Syaoran-kun – called Fai as he tugged at his sleeve to draw his attention, ignoring Kurogane, deliberately – I'm tired and hungry, can we take a break? It's obvious that there's nobody around here.

- Yeah, I guess we could – agreed the amber eyed man, glancing around to confirm what his companion just said – I'm afraid that this world is desolated.

- Ha! Are you hungry and tired already? – scoffed the ninja, he just couldn't remain quiet, he hated being ignored – You're such a weakling!

- But Kuro-rin's tummy has been rumbling for a while too – exclaimed Mokona, coming out from under Kurogane's clothes.

- That's not true! And I don't have a tummy! – roared the ninja as he tried to catch the rabbit-like creature, but Syaoran's grip prevented him from moving forward.

- Kurogane is a kid, kids have tummies, therefore, Kurogane has a tummy! – explained Mokona as she jumped contentedly on the ninja's head, flying away every time he tried to catch her.

- No I don't! Shut up!

- That's enough you two – said Syaoran, taking the bun-like creature in his hands and placing her in his right shoulder – Mokona, please stop teasing Kurogane-san – Mokona nodded while she smiled, Syaoran sighed heavily, knowing in advance that it was just a matter of time for her to start making fun of the ninja again – Can you give me our backpack, please?

Mokona nodded one more time and, rising a little, she opened her mouth widely to let out the huge backpack the travelers used to keep their belongings; such as sleeping bags, clothes, books and some souvenirs from the countries they've visited. Honestly, Mokona's inside was really useful, carrying that backpack all the time on their backs would have been very uncomfortable.

Syaoran unzipped it and dug through it, looking for some of the canned food that they have bought in Piffle Country, but didn't matter how much he searched, he couldn't find a single can, they had eaten all of them. It was obvious, they had been in five more countries after visiting Piffle Country. Sighing heavily, he zipped the backpack and asked Mokona to keep it once more; this only meant that he would have to pick some fruits and vegetables or hunt an animal, and he really wasn't in the mood. But there was no choice.

When the brown hair man looked up, he felt as if his heart had stopped beating, neither Fai nor Kurogane were anywhere around. How can be that possible? He looked away for three minutes to search in the backpack, just three minutes, and they were already gone? Syaoran looked around immediately and he felt relieved when he found them running behind him.

Without second thoughts, he walked towards them, held his hands and dragged them to the nearest rock he found, forcing them to sit down, a small vein sticking out of his forehead.

- Now hear me you two, no more chasing – Syaoran said with a firm tone of voice.

- But he was … - argued Kurogane while he pointed at Fai, but Syaoran interrupted him

- I said no more chasing – repeated, firmer – We won't be running after each of us all the time we're here, so, Fai-san, stop teasing Kurogane-san and Kurogane-san, stop making a fuss for insignificant things please.

- But he…

- No buts – Syaoran interrupted him again, the ninja snorted and folded his arms over his chest, looking away – Now, I'm going to look for something to eat because we're out of food, you are going to wait right here without moving. When I come back, I want you to be here, no excuses, understood? – the tanned boy snorted one more time and the blond kid showed him an ear-to-ear grin. Syaoran rolled his eyes, he was starting to understand why the ninja got so upset when the mage smiled in that way.

- Mokona, c'mon, you're coming with me – said Syaoran as he began to walk away.

- But Mokona wants to stay with Fai – complained Mokona.

- No, and don't want you to be together right now.

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Fishing a fish in the air didn't shock Syaoran anymore, but he did admit that it was kind of creepy. He thought about hunting a rabbit or something like that, but he just couldn't find any animal around and when he finally did, he rejected that idea right away. The animal he saw seemed like a walking eel and that was creepier than the flying fish, he decided. He also picked some fruits which were hanging from some of the huge flowers that surrounded them; he didn't recognize all of them, but Mokona assured him that they were edible.

When Syaoran was satisfied with the quantity of food he and Mokona collected, he began his way back, he didn't want to leave his companions alone much longer. They arrived to the spot where Fai and Kurogane were supposed to be, and as Syaoran expected, neither of them were there. He placed the food he was carrying on the floor and glanced around, looking for them.

- They are there! – informed Mokona, pointing to the west. The amber eyed man run towards them instantly.

- I told you to wait for me and don't move! – scolded as soon as he bump into Fai – Where's Kurogane-san? – asked confused, looking around – For god's sake, Kurogane-san, what are you doing there? – demanded when he saw the ninja clinging to the top of a three-meter mushroom – Fai-san, what the hell is he doing there?

- He's getting some air – answered the little mage.

- Fai-san – his tone of voice was a warning.

- He wanted to hit me, so I sent him there, he needed to calm down – Fai said cheerfully, Kurogane was right, he was really enjoying the situation.

- What? How? – Syaoran's eyes widened.

- Magic

That was fantastic! Fai barely used magic, and now he had to use it for this? Unbelievable! Syaoran demanded him to put the ninja down immediately, but the mage refused to do it, at least not until Kurogane apologize to him, and obviously the ninja didn't want to do it.

Syaoran approached to the mushroom where his friend was and analyzed if there was a way to climb it to help him going down, but there wasn't, the best option would be for the tanned boy to jump. He asked him to do so, assuring him that he would catch him, but the ninja just nodded stubbornly, rejecting that suggestion.

Kurogane was paralyzed and he couldn't understand why. He had been through a lot of much more horrible and awful situations, situations that would give permanent nightmares to any other man; and now there he was, unable to move a single finger because he was afraid of heights? That was stupid! He couldn't remember having acrophobia at any time of his whole life, climbing cliffs and mountains was part of his training sometimes, therefore, his current situation wasn't stupid, it was ridiculous!

The ninja peeked down quickly and closed his eyes straightaway; he couldn't even look around without feeling vertigo. He was sure that the distance between the top of that huge mushroom and the floor wasn't more than three meters, so, why in hell it seemed like kilometers to him? Could it be that his perception of the space changed when he shrank?

- C'mon Kurogane-san, jump – ordered Syaoran for the umpteenth time – I promise I'll catch you – the boy kept nodding – For heaven's sake! Fai-san, would you let him down already? – asked, trying to stay calm, because his was running out of patience.

- Until he apologize – the mage repeated the condition as he grinned.

- Kurogane-san, if you don't want to jump, then apologize to Fai-san

- Never! – screamed the ninja, obstinately.

- Oh, how cute, Kuro-rin's afraid of heights – Mokona made fun of him while she jumped cheerfully on his head – So cute~!

- Leave me alone you rat!

- Kuro-rin's so cute! – she continued, ignoring Kurogane's order.

- I told you to shut up!

Kurogane tried to catch the rabbit-like creature which kept jumping over his head, but he couldn't reach her in the position he was. Motivated by anger and without being totally conscious of his actions, he stood up and kept trying to grab her. When he finally held one of her feet, Mokona tried to fly away, and she succeed, but her achievement cause the ninja to lose his balance; and before Syaoran could even say "be careful!", he fell face down on the floor.

Syaoran ran towards him immediately, his heart beating very fast; Kurogane have suffered worse injures over the course of their journey, but he didn't have any idea of how bad it would be for him to hurt himself in that state. When he were next to him, about to raise him, the tanned boy stood up quickly, leapt on him and buried his face into his shirt, trembling. Syaoran sighed heavily for the umpteenth time that day, feeling a little relieved.

_To be continued…_

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_Geez, this chapter was really difficult to write, maybe because I had a lot of doubts about the grammar, so, once again, if you see some orthographic mistake, let me know so I can correct it._

_And thanks to everyone who spent some minutes of their time to write a review, I really appreciate it. :-)  
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